Beneath All Those Layers
by RoseScor90
Summary: Ever heard of pompous gits? You only have to look at Albus Potter, if you hadn't. But even he was human, right? And what's all this fuss about the mystery girl? Do R&R! Rated T for paranoia!


Disclaimer: Not JK…

A/n: Written for the Next gen Competition. The character was Albus Potter and the song that inspired this fic was _You're all I have_. Thanks to Listen(ListenAndBelieve) for reading this through and beta-ing it for me!

This is my worst fanfic so far. Please do review, even if just to tell me how bad it was!

He was a Potter; one would have to be blind and dumb not to know that. The messy black hair, telltale emerald eyes, and the glasses; did he even have a chance to escape the gasp of pleasant surprise that followed every utterance of his name? Not that he wanted to escape it; he embraced it as inevitable. What was the point in trying to act out, really? Though that didn't stop his brother or sister from trying.

James tried to act light hearted, jovial, shallow, so unlike his father, but he had failed; people only compared him to his _grand_father. Albus didn't understand; did they want him to die young too?

Lily was altogether another kind of rebel; she was completely outgoing and a bit too bold; completely unlike her best friend and cousin Lucy Weasley, but that wasn't the point. She did everything possible to act out, get in trouble, but she failed too; people thought she was the incarnate of her _Uncle_. Did they _want_ the castle to fall on her head?

Albus was, by far, the most successful of the three Potter children, because he had accepted it. As he often said; he was famous because of his father, so what?

It showed in his words, actions, thoughts, even in his persona. There was the ever present gloating aura emanating out of him, a look of superiority always dominated any other emotion he might feel. Rose, his best friend since birth had given up trying to change him; it was no use. He wouldn't change, because he didn't feel like it; Albus Potter never did things he didn't want to, he never acted for anybody except himself.

But there was an exception; wasn't there always? If Albus had been a seer, he'd have run away in the opposite direction of the corridor; he'd at least have tried to hide behind a tapestry until she passed. Because change was coming, in the form of one Estrada Blackwood, and a single phrase, _So what?_

XXXXXXXX

_You're going to find that your name doesn't achieve everything, Al. One day you'll want something you could never have through your parentage. _Words Rose had told him scant hours before ran in his mind as he walked around the corridors; there were a few hours left before curfew, not that he was bothered about silly little school rules. He was above all that; he was a _Potter_, for heavens' sake.

"Ow! Could you at least look where you're going?" The girl before him snapped, and bent down to pick the books up. Albus kneeled down automatically, helping her with them. He didn't know why he did that; he wasn't helpful, that was Rose.

"If I remember correctly, it was you that was carrying a rather large number of books. You should have been more careful." He tried to soften his voice as much as he could. He didn't intend to be rude, not this time. But the girl took it that way all the same, her golden brown eyes narrowing in on him.

"And that should have alerted you to my presence. You could just have moved out of the way. You weren't the one carrying books twice your weight were you?" Albus chuckled, lifting the last of the books from the floor; he had a sudden idea.

"I'll help you with them till we get to your common room," he offered, but she shook her head in response.

"No thanks, I'll manage." She tried to take the books from him, but his hold was too strong.

"You're refusing _my _help?" The fact was unbelievable, inconceivable. She was refusing _his_ help?

"Yes, and what's so astonishing about that?"

"Do you even know who I am?" Albus couldn't believe his ears; _she didn't know who he was?_

"Albus Potter? What does that have to do with anything?" She stated as if she was reading out a statistical report filled with boring data. Albus flinched; he wasn't _boring_!

"Albus _Potter_. And that has everything to do with it. I'm a _Potter_ for Merlin's sake!" Albus declared with what sounded almost like a shriek, but don't ever say that out loud; you'll have him and consequently the entirety of Hogwarts behind you.

"So what?" She snapped again, plucking the books from his hand as she walked around him. Albus was too shocked to do anything but stare as her auburn head disappeared around the corridor.

_So what?_

XXXXXXXX

He didn't stalk her. Of course he didn't. He was just curious as to who she was. He could as easily have asked Rose who knew practically everyone in the castle but for that, he'd have to spot _her_ first, right?

And that little task was harder than he had thought it would be. There were only a few thousand people in the castle, and scant few redheads; then why was he having trouble finding one single person out of them? He had been searching for _two whole weeks_!

"What are you doing here, Al?" Rose's surprised voice woke him from his thoughts. Only then did Albus realize that he was standing at the entrance of the Slytherin common room.

"Just came looking for Scor. He inside?" Albus managed to only just lie convincingly.

"Yeah, he is. I guess you didn't know the password. I'll help you get in." Albus, for once, hated his meddling cousin. Now he had no choice but to enter the common room when he had absolutely no reason to meet Scorpius.

"Scorpius! Albus wanted to talk to you about something." Rose left him with that and Albus plopped down beside Scorpius who looked up from his History of magic essay, an eyebrow raised in question.

"It was nothing, really. I was just standing outside and she saw me and wanted to know why I was standing there. I just said that to convince her that I wasn't planning to blow up the common room." Scorpius sent him a knowing look before turning back to his essay. Albus made himself comfortable on the couch, aware of all the eyes on him. He was used to it by now; but the pairs of eyes he had sought were still elusive and that frustrated him.

"It's a girl, isn't it?" Albus sat up suddenly, stumbling over his words.

"No way! You know I'm not interested in any of them, Scor. There are enough rumors circulating around about me without me _liking_ someone too!"

"Who's she?"

"I told you…"

"One of your fangirls?" Albus sighed in resignation; Scorpius had found out, he might as well accept defeat gracefully.

"No, no she's not one of those girls. In fact, I have no idea who she is." Scorpius turned away from his work, intrigued. _Good,_ at least something could still get through his composure.

"Was that why you were standing outside the common room? Trying to find her?" Albus nodded with his eyes closed; he didn't bother to look at Scorpius to see his expression.

"Was there anything particular you noticed about her?" He could feel Scorpius turn towards him and opened his eyes, sitting up straight to describe his meeting with the mystery girl.

"I'm sure she isn't in Slytherin, Al. No-one fits that description."

"That leaves Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. There's no way she could be a Hufflepuff with that attitude."

"So she must be a Ravenclaw? Why don't you just ask Rose? She'd know."

"I know I can, Scor. But she'll think I was interested in her and will say something about saving a poor girl from me and stuff like that. It'll only increase the dramatics, nothing else."

"Ah, so the search continues." Scorpius went back to his homework after that, leaving Albus to devise his plans.

XXXXXXXX

The next time he saw her was at the entrance to the Great Hall. He was just entering the hall when he saw her leaving it. With a knowing smile, she disappeared down the hallways before he could call her out; not that he would have; too many people were looking. Making a beeline for the Slytherin table, he pushed the person sitting next to Scorpius aside and took their seat.

"I saw her again." He whispered to Scorpius who looked up from his plate with an intrigued expression.

"Did you talk to her?"

"No, she was right at the entrance and there were so many people here; I didn't want to cause a scene." Scorpius shook his head ruefully, taking a bite of his food.

"Did you notice which house she was in?"

"I couldn't; but I'm sure she is a Ravenclaw, though."

"How did you come to such a conclusion, Al?"

"She's always carrying books around. Why else would she do that if she wasn't a nerd? And all of them…"

"…if that's the case, Rose should have been the first Ravenclaw ever." Scorpius commented dryly; this prejudice was the one thing Albus hated about his best friend.

"Oh hush, Scor. I'll find her; just you wait."

But when he did find out, he was stunned; she wasn't a Ravenclaw, at all.

XXXXXXXX

"A _Hufflepuff_? Are you sure, Rose?" Albus asked incredulously, his eyes following the girl who had just entered the Greenhouse. He had finally resigned himself to ask Rose, who had, surprisingly, answered him truthfully without prophetic advices.

"Yes I am sure, Al. She's been with us in Herbology since First Year. How could you have forgotten?"

"What did you say her name was?"

"Estrada Blackwood; and I'd ask you to stay away from her but since I know that would only intrigue you even more, I'll just say this; she isn't like everyone else. She's actually a good person and I'll kill you if you hurt her." Rose turned away to read the Daily Prophet, ignoring his confused looks.

XXXXXXXX

"Hello." He greeted and Estrada smiled at him unaffectedly, almost as if she had known he'd wait for her here. He was standing before an empty classroom a few corridors away from her common room.

"Albus. How're you?" Her voice lacked the adoration and excitement he had seen in people when he spoke to them; her eyes weren't wide as saucers, they weren't even smiling at him. It was a bit weird; Albus felt like a simpleton.

"Good, good. And how are you, Estrada?" He had expected her to show a little bit of shock that he knew her name, but was disappointed. Her face remained passive as she replied.

"As exciting as a normal Hufflepuff's could be, something you wouldn't know about." Albus could feel himself blanch; somehow, her words weren't normal, they were like a slap to his face, a bucket of ice cold water that was slowly waking something up in him.

"Whoever said Hufflepuffs had a boring life?" Albus said for the sake of it, and she laughed.

"I can detect your lies a mile off, Albus. You do think that and I know it."

"How would you? How could you even claim to know you?"

"More than half the castle claims to know you personally, why couldn't I?"

"But…" He was being rounded off by his own words, and it wasn't amusing at all.

"See you around Albus" She disappeared again, leaving Albus alone.

If someone had asked him then, he'd surely have admitted that he was interested in her. Thank Merlin for his reputation, no-one asked him, not just then.

XXXXXXXX

Rose watched Albus enter the common room late in the night. She had stayed up for the past week and it had always been the same thing. Albus would go to bed like any normal person at night; the common room door would open because of the wind in a few minutes. Albus would mysteriously appear out of nowhere long after curfew. He'd smile at her as if he hadn't been out doing anything wrong and would walk away whistling, with a smile on his face; something she had never seen.

There was a remarkable alteration in him too. Rose thanked heavens that it was a good change but still, she wanted to know the cause for the recent ever present smile on his face and light in his eyes in his own words.

Rose was determined to get it out of him that day and when Albus entered the common room, she asked him right out.

"Where were you, Al?" Rose had to try so hard to stop the knowing smile from slipping out; as if she needed to even ask.

"Just going around the corridors, you know?" Albus replied evasively, turning towards the stairs. Rose knew exactly what he was trying to do; run away.

"You expect me to believe that?" Rose laughed disbelievingly, shaking her head.

"Well, yes…alright, no." Albus admitted with a sigh, walking back to sit beside her on the couch, the sliver of smile still lingering on his face, making him seem more like a normal teenager than the Chosen One's son.

"So, are you going to tell me where you've been or should I steal the map tomorrow to find out?"

"You can't steal it, but I will tell you if you promise not to interfere," Rose nodded, she had wanted him to act like his true self for so long; she'd do anything for it, she had already _done_ it.

"Do you remember when I asked you about one of those Hufflepuff girls?" Rose nodded only hoping this wouldn't end in a confession of undying love. That hadn't been the plan; had he fallen for her?

"You warned me about one of them, right?"

"Estrada?" Albus nodded, before he continued.

"Yeah, Essie. We kind of became friends and stuff and…"

"You like her!" Rose exclaimed, throwing caution to the wind; Albus didn't even notice or tell her to keep it quite lest someone hear her. It was a clear indication of the change and Rose was amazed.

"No, no I don't. But she was so very different and she didn't even care about my name and I was curious, you know? But now she has sort of become close to me. I go out to meet her everyday because she refuses to be my friend in public."

"Why is that?"

"Well, she thinks I'm too popular and that if anyone knew they'd bombard her with questions about me, and she doesn't want to 'Answer a hundred pages questionnaire everywhere she goes'. Her words not mine." Albus smiled stupidly, recounting the memory. Rose simply nodded, a knowing smile playing on her lips; she knew Essie wasn't Albus' _just friend_. She wondered how long it would take for him to realize that; did Essie know already?

XXXXXXXX

"There's a Hogsmeade visit next Saturday." Rose announced as she sat between Scorpius, who had taken at seat at the Gryffindor table that day and Albus, who was busy staring at the Hufflepuff table.

"We'll go together, like always." Scorpius replied, not knowing why Rose was bringing the issue up as if it was something new.

"Yeah. Maybe you could invite Essie, Al?" She asked sneakily, and Albus looked at her weirdly.

"Are you nuts, Rose? Just think of the chaos that would cause." He hissed under his breath, though his mind was already planning to ask her. He knew she'd say no, so he'd have to use all his persuasive powers to get her to go. It would all be worth it in the end, Albus thought with a smile.

XXXXXXXX

"I'm not going with you; I don't care that I could go as Rose's friend. I'm not going." Estrada said, even before he could open his mouth.

"Why ever not, Essie?" He tried to make his voice sound hurt, but Essie just shook her head; it wasn't working.

"I told you already, Al. It would cause you a lot of problems. I'd be analysed and evaluated like a mannequin in the shop window. I don't want to make an exhibition of my life, thank you very much."

"But not if you come with Rose! Come on, Essie. Just this once? Please?" He could see from her eyes that she was weakening and continued, taking her hands in his.

"You don't even have to stay the whole day. Just for a few hours and after that you can leave, if you want to."

"There's going to be so much unwanted attention on you, Al." She tried as a last resort, but Albus broke it.

"I don't care. They've been speculating for years. It's time I gave them something to talk about." Essie smiled at his answer; all her hopes and work hadn't gone to waste, after all.

XXXXXXXX

Albus was waiting for her outside the entrance when she came out.

"This is just the way to show people that we aren't going together Al. Rose's friend, oh yeah I can totally see that." She said sarcastically, though a pleased smile was tugging at her lips.

"We'll meet Rose and Scor at the entrance. The two of you can bond all you want then." He had meant to mock her, but Essie only replied in riddles.

"Yeah, I do have rather a lot to tell her." No matter how much he tried, Essie refused to say what it was about.

"Hey Rose!" Essie greeted casually as they neared the other two and Rose hugged her in response. Watching them, Albus was confused. Why were they acting as if they were lifelong friends?

"You know each other?" Scorpius interrupted before he could, and Rose nodded mysteriously.

"I'll tell you all about our mission when we get to the Three Broomsticks" Was all she said before she dragged Essie away. Albus spent the walk to the village talking with Scorpius, and shooting frequent looks at the two girls before them. He still couldn't believe they knew each other; how could he have missed something that obvious?

They were seated at a smaller table for once, since the rest of their cousins had decided to stay back this time. Rose's eyes twinkled with mischief as she began explaining how Albus had been fooled.

"Well when I failed in my brave mission to convert Albus here into a normal human being…" Albus interrupted here.

"Cut the dramatics, Rose. What was I before? A three headed Thestral?"

"As I was saying, one day I was sitting beside Essie here while I was muttering under my breath about 'stupid cousins who acted like they were kings of the world to fool people' which she happened to hear. She offered to help me…"

"Why would she do that?" It was Scorpius who asked this time, but Rose just shook her head.

"You'll have to ask Essie that, and I'll warn you, she won't answer." Essie smiled mutely, confirming Rose's words.

"And that was the beginning of Mission MANHB." Albus laughed out loud at that.

"Are you going to explain what it means?"

"Make Al a Normal Human being," Albus snorted at the name half-heartedly; his mind was thinking in an entirely different, miserable line.

"Oh, you wouldn't have been so disbelieving if you had known yourself a few months back so don't you go snorting at me, Al," Rose warned, "And I'm proud to say that my apprentice worked to her best and there you have, a new and improved Albus Potter!" Rose made a sweeping gesture with her hand, as if she was introducing a new product to an audience. Essie, who had remained silent so far, giggled, bringing Al's attention back to her.

"So it was all fake?" Albus asked, ignoring Rose and turning fully towards Essie.

"No, no it wasn't. You know it wasn't…"

"Do I now?" Albus stood up abruptly, walking out of the restaurant.

"I'll go get him…" Scorpius stopped rose with a hand when he saw Essie stand up; this was best solved between the two of them.

XXXXXXXX

"Al! Wait up! Al! Stop running you coward!" Essie panted as she reached where he was standing; on the boundary of the Shrieking Shack.

"Whatever it is, Essie, I don't want to hear it. Your science project succeeded, didn't it? Did you plan it all? Did you laugh behind my back when you were duping me? Was it humorous enough or should I make a show of myself again?" He snapped, taking all his anger out on her; she was the reason he was feeling this hurt at all. If he hadn't changed, changed for her, he wouldn't be standing here, he would never have let anyone affect him like this, he'd never be feeling let down, and he'd never have gone and fallen in love with a girl to whom he was nothing more than a play toy.

"Albus, listen. It isn't…things didn't happen the way you imagine them. I certainly didn't think of you as a _science project_! That's ridiculous. You're being _stubborn_ again."

"I don't care, okay? I don't bloody care whatever you have to say to me." He bellowed, so unlike his cold self, but the change didn't make her happy; it frightened her.

"I thought I meant something to you, Al. Wouldn't you give me one last chance to explain myself? Didn't you ever consider me as your friend?" Albus turned to her with his pain and anger clear in his eyes; Essie had never seen burning emeralds before that day.

"_Friend_, Essie? I thought you were so much more to me than that. I thought you really cared for what happened to _me_; that you honestly believed I was a better person than the show I put up. Should have known, no-one's genuine like that and I was stupid to have deluded myself into falling for you."

"Oh but I did care about you, Al! Why else would I go to so much trouble? Why would I take so much interest in you? Thousands of people knew you, why should I care? Didn't you ever think about it?"

"I think Rose was pretty clear on why you did it. It was an experiment; did I pass?"

"No, Rose didn't say anything about my motives, you dolt! And it sure as hell wasn't an _experiment!_" Albus looked stumped; Essie never swore, not even when she was having a pretty bad day.

"So tell me, why did you do it? Why did you make such a spectacle of me? Why did you have to make me feel so…weak, and at your liberty. I still can't seem to hate you, worst of all. Why did you have to go and…" He was cut off by Essie's lips crashing on to his. Sure he had dreamt of this for so long, but he had never expected them to be in the middle of a damn row and he had never thought it would be in the heart of Hogsmeade, with more than a few hundred people watching.

She broke away quickly, taking a step back, "I liked you, back when you were the pompous and heartless git; I knew there was a good person beneath all the layers, I believed in you, Al. When I heard Rose, I thought it would be a chance for a nobody like me, you know? I mean, I knew even back then that I had no hope at all. I mean, you're Albus Potter and who am I but…" He placed a finger on her mouth to stop her, shaking his head. If there was one thing he couldn't bear, it was Essie beating herself up about things she did.

"Don't remind me. I know I was bad without you enunciating it. I know I'd never have noticed you before, but I did, didn't I? And that's all that matters, right?" He drew her close, for once not caring that people would gossip.

"People will talk." She tried to get away from his grip; it wasn't real, she kept telling herself.

"People are supposed to talk, or their heads would burst." The proposition seemed to amuse him, as he grinned mischievously.

"They're going to gossip about _you_, though."

"They already do."

"I don't like spotlights." She tried for a last time, without putting any effort at all in the retort.

"We'll disappear from it." He replied smiling, and he meant it.

It didn't matter, really. He was as ordinary as the next person, right?

A/n: Crap I know, but do review to tell me!


End file.
